


'Cause I Could Be The One

by justyrae



Category: BBC Radio 1 RPF, One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Boys Kissing, Christmas, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Flirting, M/M, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-23 23:41:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13201068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justyrae/pseuds/justyrae
Summary: "Just remember," Louis says, gently touching Nick's wrist before he can open the front door. "You're proper in love with me, no matter how much of a dick I can be."





	'Cause I Could Be The One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sunsetmog](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunsetmog/gifts).



> apparently it's now become A Thing that i write [sunsetmog](http://archiveofourown.org/users/sunsetmog) a tomlinshaw fic for her birthday!
> 
> HAPPY BIRTHDAY YOU LOVELY THING YOU <3<3<3
> 
> this stemmed from a tumblr post which grew significantly in size and detail during a fantastic conversation that we had before seeing little mix together in november and then i decided that it needed to become a real fic and here we are. hooray!
> 
> thank you thank you THANK YOU [pillarboxred](http://archiveofourown.org/users/pillarboxred), idk what i would've done without your constant support while writing this <3
> 
> title from "Be The One" by Dua Lipa

Nick really needs to stop biting his thumb around the nail, it's probably going to start bleeding soon. Every time he pulls his hand away from his mouth he lasts maybe ten seconds before it's right back where it started. His left knee has been bouncing up and down ever since he sat down on the bench in the train station, anxiously keeping an eye on the giant board that lists all the platforms and corresponding trains.

The information hasn't changed, the train he's looking for is still due to be on time and doesn't arrive for another fifteen minutes. Nick's already been here for twenty.

In an effort to distract himself he pulls his phone out of his pocket and opens up his email, tapping on the first message in his inbox and reading what he's already read a hundred times over. All of the details of Louis' train are still the same and they're a perfect match to what he sees on the giant board above his head.

Nick switches over to Facebook and brings up Louis' page, tapping through his photos to remind himself that _yes, Louis is a real person_. A real person he's going to meet in less than fifteen minutes. A real person that he invited to Christmas with his family and--

"Oh god," Nick moans as he presses his hand over his face. He might actually be sick.

This was, in fact, all his own idea. Or, well, half his idea and half Harry's. He'd been mostly joking when he said to Harry three weeks ago that he should just hire someone to pretend to be his boyfriend to get his family off his back at the holidays. He didn't expect Harry to _know a guy_.

"It has to be someone your family doesn't know," Harry had said, "or else I'd volunteer."

"My mum loves you," Nick had agreed. "If I brought you home she'd never let you leave."

Nick never really got an explanation about _how_ Harry knows Louis, and even less information as to how he'd never met Louis before, but maybe he could weasel it out of Louis. They're going to spend the next five days and four nights together, surely they'll need something to talk about after Nick's family has gone to bed.

He slips his phone back into his pocket and runs his hands through his hair, thankful that he'd foregone trying to style it into a quiff this morning. He'd surely have ruined it by now with all of his nervous tugging and pawing, which would've only made things worse. He glances up at the board and sees that he still has seven whole minutes to wait for Louis' train to get in.

Nick shoulders his rucksack and scoops his duffle bag off the floor, deciding it'll be better if he goes and waits by the exit of the platform instead of here on this bench. He's hoping that Louis will be easy to spot and their first meeting won't be too awkward.

He knows this whole thing is absurd, and their relationship is all a lie, but he's hoping that he has at least _some_ sort of connection with Louis or else this week is going to be even worse than he's expected.

It's hard to say whether Nick's anxiety gets worse or better when the train comes in. His heart beats wildly as he tries to spot Louis in the mass of people getting off the train, his height making the feat rather easy. He's in the middle of silently grumbling about the number of people when he finally catches a glimpse and his heart suddenly jumps into his throat.

Louis has paused at a bench in the middle of the platform to wind a scarf around his neck and slip his coat on, looking far more handsome than his pictures suggested. Nick's genuinely taken aback by the look of him, and he's still quite far away.

Not long after Louis starts walking towards the exit does he spot Nick and a smile spreads across his face, as though Nick's an old friend and not a perfect stranger.

"Nick?" Louis asks after he's made it through the turnstile and is standing before him.

"Y-Yeah," Nick stutters, clearing his throat and trying not to look as embarrassed as he feels. "I'm Nick. You're Louis?"

"I am," Louis replies with a smile. He looks Nick up and down and his smile turns into a bit of a smirk. "You're taller than I expected."

Nick genuinely has _no_ idea how to respond to that. He manages a laugh and clears his throat again, tearing his eyes away from Louis' face and gesturing towards the front of the station.

"S'pose we should…"

"Lead the way," Louis replies, hiking the strap of his bag further up on his shoulder as he falls in step behind Nick.

As they make their way to the taxi rank, Nick forces himself to take deep breaths and repeat this mantra in his head: _I will not picture my fake boyfriend naked, I will not picture my fake boyfriend naked_.

*

Nick's properly embarrassed by the time he and Louis are seated in the back of a taxi and pulling away from the train station. He nearly tripped over his own two feet when it was their turn for the next taxi, and then he almost knocked Louis' bags out of his hands after getting the boot open. He was trying to be nice, even _helpful_ , but instead he mostly managed to make a fool of himself.

And now he's facing another four days with this guy he barely knows and, against his own best interest, actually finds really, stupidly attractive. If the universe is trying to punish him, it's doing one hell of a job so far.

Louis clears his throat and catches Nick's attention. He glances up at the taxi driver, who must be using a bluetooth earpiece because he's speaking rapidly in some language Nick doesn't understand and definitely not paying attention to them, and then turns his head towards Louis. He's already looking at Nick with a smile and he scoots a bit closer to him so he's less in his own seat and more in the middle of the backseat.

"Is there anything I should know?" he asks. "Like, anything in particular, besides what you told me in the emails."

Nick gulps. "Like what?"

"Like, well," Louis exhales, "I know I'm meant to be awful, so like… is there anything in particular that would set off like, your mum and dad? Any celebrities they really can't stand that I can pretend to adore, that sort of thing?"

"Oh, right." Nick clears his throat and tries to think about literally anything other than how nice Louis' face looks this close up.

The _whole_ point of this was that Nick was going to bring home someone genuinely awful so his family would stop badgering him about when he was going to settle down with a nice boyfriend. If he brought home someone terrible then surely they'd get off his back, right?

The problem is, now that Nick has actually met Louis, he's not entirely sure Louis will be able to pull this off. He's too lovely to be completely awful.

"Well?" Louis cocks his head to the side and Nick's cheeks redden as he realizes he's come up with absolutely nothing.

"Fuck," he mumbles with an embarrassed laugh. "I've got nothing, I'm so sorry."

"That's alright, probably shouldn't put you on the spot like that." Louis shrugs. "What about things they _do_ like?"

"Me dad's mad about football," Nick says, "all the men in my family are, except me."

Louis raises his eyebrows. "Man U, I'm guessing?"

"You've got it." Nick chuckles wryly. "Doesn't take much to make me the black sheep, 'm afraid."

"Not everyone likes football," Louis replies. "Nothing wrong with that."

"Do you?"

Louis' mouth twitches with a smile and Nick rolls his eyes. "Sorry, mate, I love it."

"Of course you do," Nick says, joining in when Louis starts laughing. "God, this isn't going to work, my family's going to love you just because of that."

"Don't worry," Louis tells him as he pats Nick's knee with his hand. "I'll be the worst guest your family's ever seen. They'll be busting out torches and pitchforks by the end of the week, you'll see."

Nick snorts, hiding his face in his hand as Louis grins proudly. Nick's eyes drift down to where Louis' hand is still pressed to his knee and he swallows hard.

"Thanks," he says softly. He looks up and catches Louis' eye. "For doing this, I mean."

"It's nothing," Louis says, brushing it off.

"No, really. You could've been spending Christmas with your own family, but instead you're here helping me and… I really appreciate it."

Louis looks away at the mention of his family, taking his hand off Nick's knee and turning towards the window. Nick may be an idiot sometimes, but he's not thick enough to not realize when he's said something wrong.

"Sorry," he says, "have I put my foot in it?"

"No, it's fine, it's…" Louis shakes his head and plasters a smile to his face. "Let's not talk about my family, we've got our hands full with yours, yeah?"

"Yeah," Nick echoes softly. Louis nods curtly and faces the window again, leaving Nick with a hundred questions that he has a feeling will go unanswered.

He turns to his own window and the knot in his stomach grows tighter when he sees they're pulling onto the street where his parents live. It shouldn't bother him that Louis doesn't want to talk about his family; they're practically strangers, it's none of Nick's business.

Out of the corner of his eye, Nick glances at Louis and can't help but wonder. Who agrees to be a terrible houseguest for a stranger instead of spending the holidays with their own family?

 _Probably the same sort of person who asks a stranger to be a terrible houseguest_ , Nick's conscience says haughtily from the back of his mind.

Nick huffs, pinching the bridge of his nose between two fingers as the taxi comes to a stop in front of his parents' house. He takes a deep breath and braces himself before he even reaches for the door handle.

One way or another, he's got to get through this week.

*

"Just remember," Louis says, gently touching Nick's wrist before he can open the front door. "You're proper in love with me, no matter how much of a dick I can be."

"Should I be worried?" Nick asks with a smile.

"Probably should've asked that earlier," Louis whispers, winking as he guides Nick's hand to the doorknob and helps him turn it.

Nick's mum is on them in a matter of seconds, pulling Nick into a hug before he's even through the door all the way.

"Mum, this is Louis," he says once she's let go of him and he's managed to close the door behind them. She turns to look at Louis with shining eyes, and when Nick follows suit he sees that Louis has already schooled his face into a sort of sneer.

 _Oh, this will be fun indeed_ , the voice in the back of his head says.

"Eileen, yeah?" Louis' tone reeks of macho arsehole, reminding Nick of all the lads he hated in school. "Which way's the loo, I've got to piss like a pregnant woman."

"It's… uhh, it's just down the hall, past the stairs, on the left," Eileen says, darting her eyes back and forth between Louis and Nick.

"Great. Do us a favor and grab a beer for me, love?" Louis asks before he shoves his bags into Nick's arms and pushes past Eileen, shrugging off his coat and dropping it on the floor as he kicks off his boots too. Eileen stares after him until he's out of sight and then turns to Nick with a look of genuine horror.

"He's just tired," Nick offers, hiding his amusement with an apologetic look. "Y'know, long train ride, and stuff."

Eileen looks less than impressed, but her face softens when she looks at Nick. "It's good to have you home, love."

Nick smiles at her. "Good to be here, Mum."

He struggles a little to hold all of the bags by himself but waves off his mum when she tries to help, asking instead where he can put Louis' things.

"You're both in the guest room, of course," Eileen says as though Nick didn't have to endure hours of his brother and sister moaning about not being allowed to stay in the same rooms as their significant others when he was younger. He was sure he'd get the same treatment, especially since no other family members were staying in the house. Both his brother and sister were busy with their own families this year which Nick was sort of thankful for; a few less people to witness whatever horrors Louis may unleash.

"The… what?" Nick asks as he stumbles towards the stairs.

"Go on, it's all made up for you," Eileen says, casting a worried glance to the sitting room when a loud cackle sounds out of nowhere.

"Dad in there?" Nick asks. His mum nods.

"Hurry back, would you?" Eileen asks before bustling off towards the kitchen.

Nick absolutely can't contain his grin as he climbs the stairs, and actually has to cover his mouth to muffle the sound of his laughter once he reaches the guest room, thereby dropping the bags in a pile at his feet in the process. He spares a thought to wish his brother and sister _were_ coming to Christmas this year, they may have found this as amusing as he does. Nick kicks the bags all inside the room and closes the door before pulling his phone out and quickly calling Harry.

"Nicholas!" Harry crows. "Jolly ol' Saint Nick!"

Nick checks his phone for the time. "Harry, are you pissed? It's two in the afternoon."

"It's Christmas!"

"It's the 23rd," Nick laughs.

"It's almost Christmas!" Harry shouts, laughing loudly. "What're you doing, aren't you supposed to be with your mum and dad?"

"We just got here, and--" Nick stifles another laugh, "Mum already can't stand Louis, it's brilliant."

"Really?" Harry drawls.

"I can't stay on long, who knows what Louis is doing on his own. But I just wanted to say thanks again, this was the _best_ idea."

"Be careful what you wish for, Nick," Harry says ominously before hanging up. Nick stares at his phone for a moment before rolling his eyes and mumbling _twat_ under his breath.

He spends a few minutes in the guest room afterwards, arranging his and Louis' bags on opposite ends of the room and purposefully avoiding looking at the bed they'll be sharing later on tonight. When he goes downstairs, his mum and dad are both in the sitting room now along with Louis, who's telling some story obnoxiously loudly. Judging from what Nick gathers, it's about some fight that he and his mates got into at a pub with a group of complete strangers for no reason at all.

Being the excellent fake boyfriend that he is, Nick goes over and sits next to Louis while he finishes telling his awful story. His mum looks like she's genuinely trying, but one look at his dad and Nick knows Louis is already on thin ice. Perfect.

Over the course of the next few hours, the conversation turns to Eileen asking Nick to remind her of how he and Louis met. He'd glossed over it when they'd been on the phone a few weeks earlier, mostly saying how he was serious about Louis and he'd love for him to come to Christmas so they could meet him. It had been enough at the time to get the invite, but Nick knew it wouldn't be the last he heard of it.

It had been one of the first things he and Louis had talked about via email, back when Harry first introduced them. They'd agreed that saying they'd met through Harry was best, given that it would give them both jumping off points to add bits of realism into the fake story, but Louis had expanded on it more than Nick had expected him to.

"I was proper nervous," Nick says, "because even though Harry knew him, it was still a blind date, yeah?"

"Yeah, but I picked a _really_ nice restaurant," Louis butts in, "so like, you knew I wasn't just some twat."

"What?" Nick turns to Louis and scoffs. "I picked the restaurant."

"No, you didn't," Louis replies, going along with the planned fight. "I specifically remember picking it because you said you didn't care."

"I didn't say that!"

"Yes, you did!" Louis huffs loudly. "Has he always been this indecisive _and_ forgetful?"

"Says the one who almost forgot my birthday," Nick mutters loud enough for everyone to hear.

"I said I was sorry, didn't I?" Louis grumbles. "If I'd known you'd bring it up every time we fought, I wouldn't have said it."

The argument goes on long enough that Nick's mum and dad actually have to intervene to stop them yelling, and they stay away from each other until dinner later that night. When Louis leaves the sitting room, he flashes Nick a wink and a smile behind his parents' backs. Nick wiggles his eyebrows and then quickly looks away before either of his parents catch it.

During their time apart, Nick spends most of it defending Louis' persona to his parents. It's about as difficult as anyone would expect, but Nick thinks he does a rather good job of it. It's a tad difficult keeping a straight face and feigning an earnest need for him to be accepted, mostly because he knows there was no way, not in a million years, that his mum and dad would _ever_ like the person Louis is pretending to be.

Tensions aren't nearly as high during dinner, now that they've all had time to cool off. Nick's not really sure how Louis entertained himself for the last few hours, and there's a part of him that's actually relieved to see him again. They sit across from each other at the dinner table and Louis appears to be on his best behavior, which makes Nick a bit curious to see what's coming next.

Predictably, the subject turns to football towards the end of the meal. Nick had expected this, and assumes there will be a bit of trash talk and plans on just tuning it out like he normally did whenever anyone _ever_ starts discussing football. But Louis decides to take the conversation in a direction that Nick does not expect, not at all.

"Yeah, Man U just hasn't been the same since they sold Beckham to Real Madrid."

Nick's dad laughed. "How old were you when that happened?"

"Old enough to know it was shit, Pete!" Louis retorted, laughing loudly. "They never should've let Beckham go."

Nick continues tuning out his dad's defense of his favorite footie team, choosing instead to poke at the remaining bits of food left on his plate. He reaches for his glass of water, idly wondering what type of pudding his mum made, and right when he starts to take a sip is when Louis drops the bomb Nick never saw coming.

"Beckham's a real man, innit? Love to get me one of those." Louis sighs wistfully. "But, til then, I've got this one." He knocks Nick's foot with his own and Nick very nearly avoids doing a spit take all over the dining table.

The looks on his parents' faces are absolutely _priceless_ , and Louis does a fantastic job of looking like he's said nothing out of the ordinary.

"Louis," Nick hisses. His puts on a disapproving face even though he'd like nothing more than to hide under the table and have a good laugh about the whole thing.

"What?" Louis gives him an appraising sort of look and scoffs a little. "You're no David Beckham, sorry to be the one to tell you."

"Louis!" Nick hisses again as his mum's silverware clatters against her plate. She springs up and starts clearing the table, chattering away about dessert while Nick and Louis continue their little spat in hushed voices.

An hour later, Nick supposes everyone's ready for bed as soon as the table's been cleared properly and the dishes are finished. His dad's long gone by that point, having retired upstairs midway through his own dessert.

Louis makes up an excuse to leave the room after he's finished his own pudding, leaving Nick alone with his mum _and_ the dirty dishes.

"Nick," Eileen starts.

"Mum, please." Nick heaves a sigh, pretending that he's too tired to argue anymore.

"You're happy with him?" she asks, squeezing his arm. "Really happy?"

"Yes," Nick says. "It's just an off day, Mum, I swear. He's really lovely when you get to know him."

"If you say so," she replies.

Nick stays behind to dry the dishes after his mum's finished the washing, insisting that she go up to bed. She presses a kiss to his cheek and looks like she's about to say something but thinks better of it, wishing him a good night instead.

He waits another fifteen minutes or so before he goes upstairs as well, not bothering to knock before he opens the door to the guest room. When he steps into the room he's greeted by the rather magnificent view of Louis' arse in trackies and he simply freezes in place. He stares for far too long and gets caught in the act when Louis stands up and turns around.

"How long have you been standing there?" he teases.

"J-Just got here," Nick squeaks, clearing his throat and quickly avoiding Louis' eyes as he passes by him to get to his own bag.

He hears Louis chuckle from behind him and it makes Nick's cheeks burn even redder. His mantra from earlier in the train station leaps to mind and he closes his eyes as he takes a deep breath.

"I think that went well, all things considered," Louis says casually and Nick feels himself relax slightly.

"I thought my dad might actually hit you, at one point."

"So did I!" Louis laughs a bit. "Did you notice I'd started scooting my chair away from him, just in case?"

"No!" Nick laughs. "That's amazing." He turns back to his bag and hums softly. "My mum asked if I was really happy with you."

"What'd you say?"

"I told her you were having an off day," Nick replies. "She probably thinks you're like this all the time."

"That's the point, innit?"

"Yeah," Nick says, after a minute.

It's true, after all. Louis is _meant_ to be dreadful. He wanted Louis to be hated by his parents, by his whole family, so they'd never bother him about bringing anyone around for family get-togethers again. But now that Louis is here and it's working, Nick's having second thoughts.

Honestly, it doesn't help that he's currently facing a crisis of an entirely different nature: what to wear to bed. He hadn't brought anything in the way of actual pajamas because he'd assumed he'd have enough time between waking up and seeing anyone in the house to get dressed every morning. Now he has to _improvise_.

Nick paws through every piece of clothing he packed in his duffle bag, muttering to himself even though he knows Louis can definitely hear him. Nick glances over his shoulder when the mattress squeaks and watches as Louis tucks himself in on the far side of the bed. He pauses when he realizes Nick's watching him and his mouth quirks upwards in a smile.

"Should I go sleep on the sofa, instead?"

"No, no, I…" Nick huffs out a laugh and groans under his breath. "It's not--"

"I don't mind," Louis continues, "if you're not comfortable--"

"It's not that--"

"I'll set an early alarm, your parents would--"

"My mum gets up absurdly early," Nick interrupts, laughing a bit more. "You're better off staying right where you are."

"Well." Louis shrugs one shoulder and shuffles down under the blanket. "If you insist."

Nick makes a split-second decision and shoves the duffle aside, pulling his jumper over his head. It drops to the floor and he shucks his jeans off next, purposefully not looking at Louis the entire time.

He climbs into bed next to Louis in just his pants, trying to keep it as casual as possible so Louis doesn't get the wrong idea. He's not _trying_ anything, no matter what his racing heart may say otherwise. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see Louis looking at him with a smile that makes him worry that Louis can somehow read minds.

"What?" he asks, trying to keep his voice even and light.

"I have a question."

Somehow this simple statement brings a smile to Nick's face, even though he tries to hide it.

"And what's that?"

"How do you feel about PDA?"

His interest piqued, Nick rolls onto his back and looks at Louis. "What?"

"PDA, you know." Louis waves his hand around. "Public displays--"

"I know what it is," Nick interrupts with a roll of his eyes. "What I meant was--"

"We've been together for a while," Louis says, barely containing his amusement about the entirely false statement, "don't you think your family would be suspicious if we didn't show any affection towards one another?"

"Well--"

"And it might keep your mum from thinking you're in an abusive relationship."

"She doesn't--"

"Nick," Louis says flatly. "There's a bit of arguing over dinner and then there's your mum asking you if you're _really happy_."

Nick goes quiet. Louis has a point.

"What've you got in mind?" he asks carefully.

"Well…" Louis exhales. "Pet names, probably. That's a given. And touching? Like holding hands, hugs, that sort of thing. "

Nick gulps.

"Maybe a bit more than that," Louis goes on. "Some kissing as well, probably. What do you think?"

"I…" Nick swallows hard. "I think…"

"Maybe we should practice first."

"What?" Nick asks, his voice far more high pitched than normal. Louis laughs.

"If your family's going to believe it, then you can't look like a deer in headlights when I touch or kiss you." He rolls his eyes. "Obviously."

"Obviously," Nick echoes. They're both quiet for a moment until Nick plucks up the courage to ask the question burning in his mind. He sits up slightly, turning onto his side so he's facing Louis properly. "So… like, now?"

"If you like." Louis bites his bottom lip and Nick's eyes dart to it. "I do have another question, though."

"Another?" Nick huffs in annoyance but secretly he's a bit relieved.

"If someone in your family asks what our first kiss was like, what would you tell them?"

"Does it matter?"

"Well, we have our first date story. Should probably have a first kiss story too." Louis props his head up with his hand and grins at him. "Did I kiss you or did you kiss me?"

"Is that important?" Nick asks. He can't stop looking at Louis' mouth. The longer this conversation goes on, the more endeared he becomes by Louis' earnest nature.

"I think…" Louis hums softly, "that I kissed you first."

"What makes you say th--"

Louis leans forward and presses a kiss to Nick's mouth, soft and sweet. He pulls away after just a few seconds, his grin widening even more when Nick sways towards him a little. Nick clears his throat and Louis laughs softly.

"Told you."

*

Nick forgets where he is for a moment when he wakes up the next morning. Being in his parents' house is always slightly jarring for him, but it's amplified when he rolls over and remembers he's not alone in the guest bed. Louis is still asleep and Nick uses it to his advantage, studying Louis' face for a few moments.

The memory of their kiss the night before flashes into Nick's mind and his cheeks heat up. There's a twitch between his legs that should probably embarrass Nick more than it does, but he chalks it up to it being the morning and all. For a fleeting moment, he considers slipping his hand under the waistband of his pants and dealing with the problem.

But then Louis starts to stir. Nick panics, quickly turning his head and pretending like he hasn't woken up yet. He lays as still as possible and feigns deep sleep as best he can, but he's so tense that it's entirely possible that Louis will be able to tell he's faking it with just one look.

If he knows Nick's full of shit, Louis doesn't say anything about it. Nick feels the bed shift and he takes a chance to peek one eye open as Louis yawns loudly. He catches a glimpse of Louis' back as he stretches his arms over his head, his shirt lifting up with his movement to reveal the naked skin.

Nick tears his eyes away and starts to stir, turning his face into the pillow away from Louis. When he finally sits up and opens his eyes, Louis is already looking right at him.

"Sleep well?"

"Yeah." Nick clears his throat and tries to smile normally. "You?"

"Very well," Louis replies, grinning far too widely for this early in the morning. He gets up from the bed and heads for the door, slipping out of the room quietly and leaving Nick all alone.

He falls back against his pillow and covers his face with his hands, groaning loudly. _This can't go anywhere_ , he reminds himself. _Once the week is done you're probably never going to see him again_.

Nick opens his eyes and sighs heavily as he stares at the ceiling. This would all be so much easier if Louis wasn't _exactly_ his type.

He spends the time alone wallowing in his own thoughts, which means he hasn't moved a muscle towards getting out of bed and when Louis comes back into the room Nick's right where he left him. Louis snorts in amusement when Nick scrambles to get up, heading straight for his duffle bag and once again avoiding Louis' eyes.

"I'm going to shower," Nick says once he's got a new set of clothes in his hands, pressing the bundle pressed over his groin for no reason at all. He's definitely not still hard. "You can stay in here until I get back if you want, or--"

"Go downstairs and torment your folks some more?" Louis says before tugging his shirt over his head. Nick chokes on a laugh and looks down at his feet as he tries to regain control of his mouth.

"Up to you," he replies. "I… uh, I won't be long."

Nick can't even face himself in the mirror when he gets into the bathroom. He locks the door, turns on the shower, and strips out of his pants before stepping under the hot spray. It's far more difficult for him to not concentrate on the fact that his morning wood _isn't_ going away now that he's completely alone. His mind isn't helping matters either, because every time he closes his eyes he either thinks about Louis kissing him or what Louis looks like without his shirt on.

He's going to have to have a stern talk with Harry about setting him up for fake relationships with his exact type. _Be careful what you wish for_ floats through his head and he curses Harry under his breath.

Somehow managing to avoid wanking to the thought of Louis, Nick finishes his shower and gets dressed. Louis is waiting in the hallway for him when he comes out of the bathroom and together they head downstairs for breakfast.

This is where it starts getting a bit dicey.

During breakfast Louis manages to subtly insult Nick at least four times, goes in for a kiss no less than seven times (even when Nick's actually trying to eat), and gropes Nick in a number of places six times. By the end of the meal Nick isn't entirely certain that his dad isn't going to try and murder them both in their sleep.

The day continues in much the same fashion, and actually gets _worse_ when Nick's extended family arrives for their Christmas Eve get-together. Louis has been taking up an entire sofa on his own while Nick helps tidy up the sitting room (even though it's remarkably tidy already), and when the family starts to arrive, he makes no effort to get up and greet them. Instead, he waits right where he is and offers waves to everyone as they come into the sitting room, lounging as though he's waiting for someone to start feeding him grapes or something.

Nick's mind wanders for a few seconds, imagining Louis in a toga and then even less than that, but he's snapped out of his thoughts when his mum clears her throat rather loudly. She looks pointedly at Louis and then back at Nick, and he gives her an awkward smile in return before quickly going over to the sofa and bending down to whisper to Louis.

"Budge up, yeah?" he asks, pointedly _not_ thinking about how close their faces are at this precise moment.

Louis rolls his eyes and huffs loudly as he sits up properly, but before Nick can get away, he pulls Nick down onto his lap and hooks his arms around his waist.

"Relax," Louis whispers as he pinches Nick's side. "Loosen up or they'll think you hate me."

"I don't hate you," Nick whispers back, "but I might be the only one."

"That's the idea, innit?" Louis presses his chin to Nick's shoulder and tilts his head. "I'm doing an alright job, I think."

"More than alright." Nick snickers softly. "Keep watch of where my dad is, yeah?"

"I'll keep out of reach of his arm," Louis whispers, muffling his laugh into Nick's shoulder.

Nick feels a bit flushed as he turns his attention back to the room at large, now that the rest of his family's gathered inside. There's not enough seats for them all so if Nick wasn't on Louis' lap there's a good chance he'd either be standing or on the floor. He tries to engage with his cousins sitting on the sofa with him and Louis, but it's a bit hard to concentrate when Louis won't stop _touching_ him.

Louis still has one arm wrapped around Nick's waist and his hand is pressed against Nick's hip, his fingers drawing invisible lines against him. Louis' other hand is tangled with Nick's, keeping a tight grip on it where their hands are resting against the arm of the sofa. The biggest problem, though, is Louis' face.

Nick can't even _see_ it but he can _feel_ it pressed against his back. Sometimes Louis rubs his nose against Nick's spine, sometimes he just rests his cheek against Nick's shoulder. But after a while he apparently becomes bored with his options and uses the arm around Nick's waist to pull Nick flush against his chest, and tucks his face into the crook of Nick's neck.

Which is perfectly fine and not distracting at all until Nick feels Louis' lips press against his neck.

He goes rigid and goosebumps break out all across his body. He squirms a little in an attempt to dislodge Louis from his neck, but with Louis' arm pressed firmly against him he's unable to move properly and all he manages to do is grind down against Louis' lap instead. Louis' grip on his hand tightens when it happens and he feels Louis' teeth sink into the skin of his neck just a little, enough to get Nick to gasp softly.

"You alright?" One of his cousins looks at him oddly, their eyes darting from Nick to Louis behind him.

"Peachy," Nick replies, laughing to cover up his embarrassed tone. "Sorry, you were saying?"

The conversation starts up again and Nick tries his best to keep up with what his cousins are saying, but all he can think about is how good Louis' mouth feels against his neck. Judging by the smile that Louis is pressing into his skin, he damn well knows it.

Louis adjusts his grip on Nick's waist, stretching his arm out slightly and brushing his wrist against Nick's groin. It's the tiniest bit of friction but it's more than enough to have Nick jerk in Louis' lap and make his cousins give him another round of odd looks. Nick clamps his free hand down on Louis' wrist to keep it above his belt and schools his face not to show his frustration while Louis giggles into his shoulder.

"Nick," he whispers. Nick bites his lip to keep from smiling and ignores him. " _Nick_."

"What?" he hisses.

"Sorry," Louis whispers, still giggling. "Didn't mean to."

"You're a menace," Nick whispers back, turning to look at him. He can't keep from smiling now, and Louis grins right back at him.

He's taken aback when Louis presses their mouths together, kissing him soundly. Nick's never kissed anyone in front of his family, let alone with _tongue_ , but Louis doesn't seem to care. He's going for obnoxious PDA and he hits that mark immediately.

As much as the logical side of Nick's brain keeps yelling at him to pull away, Nick can't. _It's all part of the act_ , he tells himself. It has nothing to do with any burgeoning feelings he may or may not have for Louis, and it's certainly not going to make those feelings grow any larger.

(It's surprising they've managed to keep up the lie a whole day already, given how shit of a liar Nick really is, especially to himself.)

Louis pulls away with a gasp, immediately turning away from Nick and towards his cousins who were very purposefully not looking at either of them.

"Did Nick tell you how we met?" Louis says suddenly, interrupting their conversation and making Nick's head spin. Apart from polite hellos, Nick's fairly certain he hasn't said more than two words to any of his family members apart from his mum and dad all day.

His cousins look at Nick and he laughs awkwardly as he wipes his mouth.

"They don't want to hear that," Nick replies.

"Of course they do, don't be rude, Nicholas." Louis rolls his eyes and pinches Nick's side. "Tell them!"

"Didn't know you were into bossy ones, Nick," one of his cousins muses quietly. Nick goes bright red and groans softly.

"We met through a mutual friend," he says loudly, ignoring his cousin's comment and squeezing Louis' hand. He felt Louis go still underneath him after his cousin spoke, and it surprised him a little that Louis didn't say a word in return. He would've thought it was the perfect jumping off point for a rant of some kind that would've set off another public argument, but instead Louis stays quiet and lets Nick tell their story.

Louis doesn't say anything even after Nick's finished and the conversation naturally progresses onward. If not for the occasional squeeze of his hand, Nick might think Louis had somehow disappeared from underneath him.

In the middle of a sentence, Nick feels a harsh vibration under his arse and it surprises him so much that he nearly falls off Louis' lap entirely. Louis takes the opportunity to silence his phone through his pocket, pulling Nick back onto his lap a few seconds later.

"Sorry," Louis mumbles.

"Do you need to get that?" Nick asks, trying to get a read on him but Louis' face slips into an easy grin and he appears to come back into himself.

"Not getting away that easy," he teases.

Nick rolls his eyes and tugs at the neck of his jumper, feeling far warmer than he should given how far away he is from the fireplace. Louis starts his teasing ministrations up again, doing enough to distract Nick but not enough to actually pull him out of the conversation again.

The second time his phone goes off, Louis curses under his breath and then taps Nick's hip to get him to stand up.

"C'mon, arse up," he says loudly when Nick doesn't move quickly enough. He leans over to Nick's cousins to say, "not the first time he's heard that, eh?"

"Jesus," Nick mutters, caught between embarrassment and amusement again. Louis' grin fades when he sees who's called him, and he suddenly scrambles to get to his feet.

"I, umm, I'll be right back," he stutters out before he quite literally runs out of the room, leaving Nick just as bewildered as the rest of his family.

"He's, umm, quite the catch," his cousin says as Nick falls into the empty seat on the sofa.

"Shut up," Nick grumbles as he casts a look towards the doorway Louis ran through.

The thing is, if Nick was _really_ Louis' boyfriend, he'd probably go after him. But something inside Nick says that this isn't the right time for his fake boyfriend to follow him, so he stays.

Louis doesn't come back.

When Nick finally goes looking for him a couple hours later, he finds Louis sitting on the bed in the guest room staring out the window. He doesn't turn around when Nick opens the door, nor does he even move when Nick says his name. He doesn't even get Louis' attention until he's practically right in front of him, and then Louis jerks in surprise and clutches his chest.

"Jesus, you scared me."

"Sorry, I…" Nick sits down next to him and tentatively puts his hand on Louis' knee. "You alright?"

"Yeah, why?" Louis plasters a smile to his face but it doesn't reach his eyes.

"You've been gone a while," Nick says, the small worry in his mind growing ever larger. "Was starting to wonder if you climbed out the window or something."

"I haven't been gone that long," Louis replies challengingly, but his face falls when he checks the time on his phone. "Oh."

"Dinner's almost ready," Nick says, changing the subject. "Everyone's asking after you."

"Are they really?" Louis laughs softly. "Or were they celebrating the fact that I'd fucked off?"

"My mum was worried," Nick answers honestly. She'd cornered him half an hour ago asking where Louis went off to, although Nick suspects she was more worried that he was doing something inappropriate rather than concerned for Louis' wellbeing.

"Your mum's great," Louis whispers. "Your dad too, although I'm never going to go within arm's reach of him again."

Nick snickers. His heart warms at the thought of their now inside joke, but it also makes him a bit sad. He can't stop himself from wondering what if; thinking that if he and Louis had met under different circumstances and were properly dating, his dad would probably love him.

He pushes the thought out of his head when Louis' gaze drops down to his hands, twisting together in a nervous manner. Nick wants to ask who was on the phone, what made him hide for the last few hours, why does he seem so sad?

"Sorry," Louis says suddenly as he rises to his feet. "We should probably go, shouldn't we?"

"Yeah, but… Louis," he says a bit louder, catching Louis' attention before he can make it to the door.

"Yeah?"

"You sure you're okay?"

Louis' face softens. "Don't worry about me, Nick. This week's about you, yeah?"

"But--"

Louis disappears through the door and Nick huffs out a breath. He has no right to be annoyed by Louis' avoidance tactics, but he can't stop himself. He just wants to make sure Louis is alright.

*

Nick goes to bed with a heavy weight on his mind and when he wakes up the next morning, it's only gotten worse. Louis had gone back to being a right terror during dinner and afterwards, like he was making up for the hours he'd lost. Nick had played along with it, reacting just how they'd agreed he should, but every time Louis went in for a kiss Nick would wish it lasted a bit longer.

It's a dangerous road and he knows it, but at the same time he can't stop thinking about it. He thinks about it even now as he spends the first few minutes of Christmas gazing at Louis.

If they were really boyfriends, he'd wake him up with a kiss. Several, probably, and maybe there would be other things involved as well. Christmas morning blowjobs suddenly spring to mind and Nick has to quickly squash that train of thought before it goes too far.

This time around Louis catches Nick watching him sleep, and he grins when Nick tries to make it look like he wasn't. Louis manages to lean over and plant a kiss on Nick's lips in the midst of it all, looking incredibly smug when he pulls back.

"Happy Christmas," he says.

"Happy Christmas," Nick parrots. He blinks. "Did you really just kiss me?"

"You were staring at me," Louis reasons. "Thought you might want a kiss."

Nick flushes and sits up in bed to hide his face from Louis' piercing eyes. Louis does the same, and he rests his chin on Nick's bare shoulder and slips his arm around Nick's waist. In his head, Nick can hear Louis' voice from the day before saying _you're not getting away from me that easy_ , and it affects him far more than it probably should.

"Should I not have--"

"No, it's just…" Nick swallows. "Nobody's around, you didn't have to."

"Maybe I wanted to," Louis says. "I like kissing and…" He drops his voice down low," I've gotten rather fond of kissing you." He clears his throat. "Maybe it was my Christmas gift to you."

"A kiss?" Nick doesn't mean to sound derisive, it just slips out.

"Why not?" Louis hides his face against Nick's shoulder, pressing his smile into his skin. "Got a couple more, if you're interested."

Nick's cheeks heat up and he can hear his own smile as he speaks again. "You opened your presents early as a kid, didn't you?" he teases. "Ruined the Christmas surprise."

"No," Louis says defiantly.

"Liar," Nick says, nudging Louis off his shoulder and pressing their mouths together against his better judgment.

Louis digs his fingers into Nick's hip and reaches up to cup Nick's face with his other hand. Nick's got half a mind to press Louis down into the mattress and explore every inch of his body with his tongue, but he can't. He _knows_ he can't. He shouldn't even be kissing him.

"I got you socks for Christmas," he blurts out. He has no idea why he said that, but it works like a charm to kill the mood. Louis starts laughing and Nick follows, feeling relieved that the bubble's popped and he won't keep imagining that this is all real. That Louis is really his boyfriend.

"My gift's better," Louis declares.

"Kisses are more personal, I'll give you that."

Louis shakes his head. "That's not all I got you."

"What?" Nick blinks. They hadn't talked about exchanging gifts - he'd grabbed a pair of really nice socks from Selfridges just so Louis would have _something_ to open on Christmas. He never got around to asking his mum and dad if they'd gotten Louis anything, and he definitely didn't expect Louis to get him anything in the first place.

"You'll have to wait and see," Louis says, pressing one last kiss to Nick's cheek. He slips out of the bed and leaves the room before Nick can say a word.

 _He's too good at that_ , Nick thinks to himself. He lets out a deep breath and runs a hand through his hair, exhaling slowly as he closes his eyes and curses his selfishness. He'd stay in bed with Louis for the rest of the day, for the rest of the _week_ , if he could, and for the first time he starts to wonder if maybe Louis feels the same way.

The panic starts to set in the longer he dwells on that thought. He never expected to actually _like_ Louis. He still barely knows anything about him, but there's just something about the way Louis acts around him when it's just the two of them that inexplicably draws Nick in. He wants to know more, he wants to know everything there is to know about Louis, and he can't explain it.

He also can't deny the enormous problem staring him in the face. His family definitely can't stand Louis, and it's all his fault.

It only occurs to him at that moment that he and Louis have to sit through opening Christmas presents with his mum and dad this morning. Just the four of them for the next few hours, and _then_ Nick's entire extended family is coming over again. How he managed to forget that until now, Nick chalks up to being too preoccupied with just getting through the day.

He really should've been preparing for this instead.

His mum and dad are already sitting by the Christmas tree when Nick and Louis make their way downstairs, and there's a teapot with two empty cups next to a tray of breakfast sweets waiting for them.

Louis sticks close to Nick and stays quiet, fixing a cup of tea but foregoing any of the pastries. There's a thick level of tension in the room and Nick suspects that's why Louis is keeping mum; he'd probably do the same if his dad was giving him the same looks he's sending Louis' way.

"Shall we open the presents?" Nick asks after he's taken a sip of his tea.

"Good idea!" Eileen says brightly as she gets up, squeezing Peter's knee before she heads towards the tree and kneels down next to it. The pile of presents is small enough that she's able to gather most of them in her arms without too much difficulty, but Nick still springs up from the sofa to help.

He reaches for one that turns out to be marked for his mum and dad but he doesn't recognize the wrapping paper, and upon further inspection of the gift label, he finds that it's from himself and Louis. He tries to hide the surprised expression on his face as he turns back around and helps his mum distribute the gifts.

Louis appears to be just as surprised as Nick is when Eileen hands him a rather large present, eerily similar to one that has Nick's name on it. Nick intends to ask Louis about the mystery gift but before he can say a word, his mum urges them to start opening the gifts.

"You first," Louis says softly, picking up one in particular from the spot between them and handing it to Nick. It's marked as being from Louis himself and heavier than Nick expected, but once it's in his hands he doesn't have to guess too hard as to what it could be.

He opens it and finds exactly what he expected: a book. But he's stunned to see that not only is it a book he'll enjoy, it's one he's _wanted_ for a while. It's a book by one of his favorite photographers and he has genuinely no idea how Louis could've known he wanted it.

Nick looks up and stares at Louis in wonderment, but Louis quickly turns away with a bashful smile. He busies himself with opening the smaller of the two presents marked for him, and Nick feels a lump rise in his throat. His present wasn't meant to be special, he put the smallest amount of effort into it, and now that he's opened Louis' present he feels like an absolute idiot.

"Oh, these are beautiful!" Eileen says, drawing Nick's attention away from where Louis is opening his gift. He turns to see his mum holding a pair of sparkling candlesticks, both of them catching the light from the fireplace and shimmering onto the walls.

"Nick picked them out," Louis says suddenly. Nick feels like he's got a bit of whiplash with the way he turns back and forth between Louis and his mum, unable to say a fucking word.

"So thoughtful, Nick," Eileen goes on. "Thank you!"

"I… you're welcome?"

Louis snickers quietly but when Nick looks at him he's stopped, and he's actually _pulling on_ the socks Nick gave him. He almost tells Louis not to, that he doesn't have to, but when he's done Louis looks up with the biggest smile and shows them off proudly.

"Not too shabby, yeah?" he asks, nudging Nick's ankle with one of his feet. Nick flushes down to his toes and looks down at the book still on his lap.

"Not at all," he answers.

*

The thing is, Nick keeps waiting for an opportune moment to pull Louis aside and talk to him one on one, but that moment _never fucking comes_. His parents don't seem to want to let them out of their sight, which is made all the more embarrassing after he and Louis both opened matching hand-knitted sweaters from them.

Louis had immediately pulled his on, just like he had with the socks Nick had given him, which meant of course that Nick had to do the same. He's fairly certain that he's never seen his mum quite so happy as she looked when they both had their sweaters on. Nick was still trying to process how his mum had the time to make not just one but _two_ sweaters and why she'd make one for his real-but-actually-fake boyfriend whom she hadn't even met!

By the end of brunch, Nick's fairly certain Christmas is going to do his head in. And then the extended family shows up.

Everyone is all a flutter when Nick's cousin Mary shows up with her husband and their five-month-old son, Derek. Nick steadfastly avoids looking his mum in the eye any time she's anywhere near the baby. Whether or not she thinks Louis is genuinely terrible, she's still a mum and mums always want to chat about grandbabies whenever there's a possibility.

Nick definitely can't handle that conversation now. Or like, ever.

Somehow he manages to get tangled up in conversation with Mary's husband, Brian, and his own dad, and he realizes that Louis is nowhere to be seen in the kitchen. He's so distracted by looking all around that he doesn't realize he's been asked a question until Brian actually waves his hand in front of Nick's face.

"You there?"

"Sorry," Nick laughs awkwardly and clears his throat. "You were saying?"

"Mary mentioned you were bringing your boyfriend," Brian says, "where is he?"

"Probably hiding, if he knows what's good for him," Peter grumbles under his breath.

"Dad!" Nick scolds. Brian snorts, clearly stifling laughter.

Nick's dad mutters something else but leaves Nick's side before he can ask him to repeat it, and Brian claps Nick on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, my mum didn't like Mary at first, either."

"But…" Nick's head is actually spinning.

"Mums and dads are weird that way, aren't they?" Brian shrugs. "Your dad's probably just looking out for you, y'know. 'm sure your boyfriend's a great lad."

Nick swallows hard. "Yeah, he is."

In order to avoid any further awkwardness, Nick clears his throat and mumbles something about going to look for Louis as he ducks out of the kitchen. He thinks to head for the stairs, but just before he can put his foot on the first step, he hears Louis' voice coming from the family room.

Nick goes to investigate and ends up paused in the doorway, entranced by what he sees before him. Mary and Louis are sitting together on the loveseat nearest the fireplace, the fairy lights all around the room casting lovely shadows on their faces, and Louis has baby Derek in his arms. For a moment, Nick is unsure whether he should be worried about Louis acting like a prat while holding Mary's baby. But with one look at Mary's face and seeing the absolute trust she's put in Louis, he feels that worry dissipate into nothing. Surely she wouldn't have let Louis hold him if he'd said something dickish.

But this train of thought leads to Nick's heart skipping a beat. Louis has already been acting strange enough this morning, holding the baby is only going to make it worse. There's no way they can possibly explain away Louis' behavior the last few days after he's so obviously acted like a normal human being with actual _feelings_ and _manners_.

Nick already knew he was fucked this morning when Louis kissed him. He'd just been hoping he'd be able to keep it together until they left his parents' house.

"Here you are," he says loudly, announcing his presence as he walks into the room like he hasn't been standing in the doorway watching them for the last five minutes.

"Shh," Louis says without so much as even looking up in Nick's direction. "You'll wake him."

"Louis' a natural," Mary says, smiling widely as she wraps her hand around Nick's wrist and squeezes it gently.

"I've had a bit of practice," Louis replies, still not taking his eyes off the tiny baby in his arms. "I'm the oldest of seven."

"Seven?" Mary and Nick say together in the same surprised tone. Nick clears his throat and avoids Mary's curious look as best he can.

"Yeah," Louis goes on, "the youngest twins are about two, actually."

"I'd love a big family," Mary says, "but maybe not _quite_ that big."

"I love it," Louis replies, finally tearing his eyes away from Derek to smile at Mary. "I can't wait to have a family of my own, to be honest."

"Really?" Mary says in the type of suggestive tone that makes Nick choke on nothing at all. They both look up at him; Mary with a look of pure amusement in her eyes and Louis with a look of mild panic, like he'd only just realized Nick was there.

"Someday, obviously, y'know." Louis clears his throat and looks away from Nick. "Not, like, immediately."

"Bet your mum would love another grandchild," Mary says, nudging Nick gently with her elbow.

"Yeah," Nick laughs nervously, "well, uhh… yeah." He scratches the back of his neck. "Should we, umm, get back to…"

"Actually," Mary says as she suddenly rises from the loveseat, "would you mind looking after him for a couple minutes while I grab something to eat?"

"I don't--"

"Of course," Louis says over Nick's protest. "Take as long as you need."

" _Thank you_ ," she says in a seriously grateful tone. "You're a gem, honestly."

Mary grins and gives Nick a thumbs up that Louis can't see before she slips by him and out of the room. Nick keeps still for a few seconds, unable to really process just what the hell's going on at the moment. He eventually sits down next to Louis and puts his head in his hands, exhaling deeply. This isn't how he pictured Christmas going, not at all.

"Sorry," Louis murmurs quietly.

"Hmm?" Nick lifts his head and turns towards Louis, who's keeping his eyes fixed firmly on Derek.

"I've ruined it, haven't I?" he whispers.

"You--"

"The gift for your mum and dad was too much," Louis goes on. "I had it all planned in my head, I was going to say I thought they were tacky, but then…"

"Louis," Nick says gently.

"It's just… it's Christmas," Louis continues, still not looking at Nick. "I couldn't say anything cruel, not on Christmas. And then Mary shows up with this little guy, and…"

"Lou--"

"I didn't mean to disappear on you, I swear, I just…" Louis sighs. "I just love babies, is all. I love kids in general, but babies, they're just…"

Nick's eyes drop to Derek's little face and he feels his frustration melt away. "They're your kryptonite, aren't they?"

Louis snickers a little and glances at Nick with a smile. "Yeah, you could say that."

They stare at each other for a moment before Louis turns back to Derek, but Nick keeps looking at Louis. He can't take his eyes off him; he's unfairly beautiful in this light and Nick's got a fuzzy feeling starting in his chest and spreading quickly throughout his body. There's a voice in the back of his head saying _it was meant to go like this_ , but Nick's still unsure. He knows there's _something_ there, a connection between the two of them that he hadn't expected, but the fact remains that Louis has spent the last two days being a right terror to his family at Nick's request. As much as Nick wants to give this a shot, he can't be sure there's a way for them to come back from this.

He can't even imagine what his mum and dad would say, especially not after the comments his dad just made in the kitchen. How could they ever believe that Louis is a truly wonderful person after what Nick's made him do?

"Louis," Nick starts, his mouth moving faster than his brain can handle. Louis turns to look at him, raising an eyebrow when Nick doesn't say anything further.

"Nick?" he says, the corners of his mouth twitching in amusement. "You alright?"

"I just…" Nick laughs softly, "there's something I want to talk to you about."

"Okay…" Louis narrows his eyes. "Have we been kicked out of your mum's house?"

"No, it's not--"

"Have _I_ been kicked out of your mum's house?" he asks, his eyes going wide as his face falls.

"God, no, it's not that, it's--"

"Here you two are!" Louis and Nick both turn to look at the doorway where Nick's mum's just appeared, standing there with her hands on her hips and shaking her head disapprovingly. "Hiding away, are we?"

"No, we were just--" Nick starts.

"Do us a favor, love," his mum interrupts, "give your dad a hand in the kitchen?"

"I-- But--"

"Give me some time with my grand-nephew, go on." His mum all but shoos Nick off the couch and for a moment, Louis looks stricken with panic.

"Mum--"

"We're fine here," she says, waving Nick away. "Off you go."

Louis stares at him with wide, pleading eyes. The _don't leave me_ goes unsaid, but Nick can hear it loud and clear. But… he leaves anyway.

Nick returns to the kitchen but doesn't see his dad anywhere. He suspected his mum was just trying to get him out of the room, but now that it's obvious he intends to go back and rescue Louis, but he gets waylaid by his cousins in a matter of seconds. The thing is, Mary's gone and blabbed about how lovely Louis is with her son, which is obviously in stark contrast with how he behaved the day before, and now his cousins are demanding an explanation. The problem is, Nick hasn't got one. At least, not one that won't get him in a heap of trouble.

As nerve-wracking as it is to be bombarded by question after question, Nick doesn't actually have a chance to say a word because his cousins just keep talking over each other. Nick looks to Mary for help, but she slips into the hallway and out of sight, leaving Nick to fend for himself.

"Well? What have you got to say for yourself?"

Nick laughs awkwardly. "I dunno what you're talking about." He starts moving towards the doorway, ignoring the protests of his cousins. "Haven't you all got better things to gossip about than my love life?" he snaps over his shoulder.

He storms out of the kitchen, leaving his cousins to their own devices (and to presumably continue talking shit behind his back). Because of his frustration he forgets about going to rescue Louis from his mum, but it makes no difference. For the second time that day he pauses at the foot of the stairs, but this time it's because Louis appears at his side out of nowhere.

The panicked look in his eyes that Nick saw before is even worse now, and he grips Nick's arm tightly as he breathes out a hasty apology that has Nick's head spinning.

"She figured it out, Nick. I didn't know what to say, I'm so sorry, please don't--"

"What are you talking about?" Nick asks, but before Louis can properly explain, Mary comes out of the family room with her son in her arms.

"Your mum wants to see you," she tells Nick, nodding her head back towards the room behind her. She looks about as impressed with him as their other cousins did, and the color drains from Nick's face.

Mary walks away with Derek wrapped up in her arms, and as soon as they're alone in the hallway Louis squeezes Nick's arm to get his attention.

"Nick," he whispers. "Nick, I'm--"

"It's okay," Nick says automatically, his mind a whirlwind of panic and worry. He looks at Louis and suddenly feels a strange sense of calm, just from looking into his eyes. Nick feels the urge to kiss him but doesn't, instead he just puts his hand on Louis' shoulder, squeezes it gently, and then goes into the other room to see his mum.

She looks about as unimpressed as Nick's ever seen her and it comes as no surprise at all. He honestly feels like he's about eight years old again and in trouble for breaking something expensive. Nick goes and sits down next to her, staying quiet so as to hopefully not make this any worse for himself than he already has. Eileen isn't looking at him, she's staring at the fireplace.

"I spoke to Louis," she says carefully. Nick waits a beat, but she doesn't continue.

"Mum, I…" he starts, but she holds up a hand and he goes quiet.

"I understand why you'd want to bring someone home," she finally continues. "I'm sorry if Dad and I have put pressure on you to do it, but we just want to see you happy."

"I know, Mum, but--"

"I'm not finished," she cuts in sharply, finally turning her head to look at him. Nick's heart breaks when he sees the tears in her eyes. "What I don't understand is why you would have that lovely boy pretend to be that…" Eileen takes a breath and sniffs loudly. "Why you'd have him act like that. Treat us like he did. On Christmas!"

"I'm sorry," Nick says quickly. "Mum, I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have--"

"No, you bloody well shouldn't!" she snaps. "Not on Louis' birthday and certainly not on Christmas!"

"I'm--" Nick blinks. "What?"

"What?"

"You said… Louis' birthday?"

"Yes," Eileen replies with a huff, like she can't believe _that's_ what Nick's choosing to focus on. "Yesterday was his birthday, of all things, and instead of being with his own family he was _here_ acting like an absolute--"

"I didn't know," Nick says, burying his face in his hands. "Oh god," he mutters. It all makes sense now. Why Louis' phone kept going off, why he was acting so oddly yesterday. It was his fucking birthday and he was in a house full of strangers who had no idea.

"Was any of it true?" Eileen asks, her voice coming out a bit thick.

"Was any of--" Nick lifts his head and immediately wishes he hadn't. He hates seeing his mum cry. "Oh, Mum."

He wraps his arms around her and hugs her tightly, letting her cry on his shoulder as he holds her. She doesn't cry for too long, and when she stops she smacks him a few times on the chest.

"I raised you better than this!" she cries.

"I'm sorry! It was a stupid idea and I won't ever do it again."

"You'd better not, or I will disown you." Eileen sniffs a little. "You've got a lot of making up to do, you know."

"I know, I promise, I'll make it up to you and Dad, I will."

"Not just me and your dad, but to Louis as well."

"I… what?" Eileen smacks his shoulder.

"Stop being an idiot right now!" She huffs. "You know what, you're-- I'm sending you out. Right now."

" _What_?"

"You heard me. We're going to have a proper birthday party for Louis and _you're_ going to go out and get some party supplies and his favorite foods."

"But… Mum, it's Christmas!"

"Exactly!"

"No, I mean, nothing's open on Christmas!"

"Then you'll go out and you'll find somewhere that _is_ open." Eileen gets up and slaps Nick on the shoulder, much lighter than she has in the last five minutes.

"But… what about Christmas dinner?" Nick asks as she starts to walk away. Eileen spins around and puts her hands on her hips.

"So help me, if you miss Christmas dinner, you will _not_ be invited to next Christmas!" She crosses her arms and huffs. "Now, I'm off to tell your dad the change in plans. I expect _you_ to do the rest. Alright?"

Nick hangs his head. "Yes, Mum."

*

Louis is sitting on the bed in the guest room when Nick opens the door. He'd intended to just run up and grab his jacket, not expecting to run into anyone at all, especially not Louis. He looks about as much of a wreck as he did when Nick last saw him, but that's not all Nick notices. Louis' bags are packed.

"Louis, what… what's going on?"

"I, umm," Louis looks down at his bags, "I thought maybe it'd be best if I left. Now that your mum knows, I--"

"You don't have to leave," Nick says.

"But I've ruined--"

"You didn't ruin anything," Nick assures him, stepping further into the room. "Please, don't leave."

Louis swallows and sniffs loudly, but doesn't meet Nick's eyes. A soft laugh falls from his lips, the sort that's usually followed by a few tears being shed. Louis bites down on his bottom lip and clears his throat, staring firmly at the floor as if that will keep him from crying.

"Would you, umm," Nick laughs awkwardly. "My mum's sending me out for a few last minute things. Would you come with me?"

"But--" Louis looks up, puzzled. "It's Christmas."

"I know."

"Nothing's open on Christmas."

"I _know_ ," Nick replies, laughing a bit more. "We'll find something."

"What's she need?" Louis asks, taking a few hesitant steps forward.

"I'll tell you in the car. C'mon," Nick nods his head towards the door as he grabs his jacket. "Let's get a move on before I get cornered by my cousins again."

"Again?" Louis echoes, but he follows Nick regardless.

As expected, every shop they drive by is closed. Nick drives from one end of Oldham to the other and back around again, hoping maybe they'd missed something. Louis stays quiet for the most part, only making the occasional comment when he spots a shop that looks promising. But after they've checked what seems like every single shop in the whole town, Nick pulls into a petrol station and shuts off the engine. Their shop is open, but Nick's at least ninety percent sure that they won't have any party supplies.

"What's your mum actually need?" Louis asks as he peers through the windshield at the petrol station shop.

"Why didn't you tell me it was your birthday yesterday?"

Louis sits back in his seat and Nick stares resolutely at the steering wheel in front of him. He only turns his head to look at Louis when he's absolutely certain Louis isn't looking at him.

"It wasn't important," Louis answers softly.

"Not impor-- Louis, it was your birthday!"

"What was I supposed to say?!" Louis shouts. "Did you really want me to force your family into throwing me a party while I acted like a dickhead?"

"Well, I-- You-- It's--" Nick groans in frustration. "That's not the _point_."

"Nick," Louis says, his voice having dropped back down to its normal volume, "this week wasn't about me, remember? I said I'd help you, and I did, until it all spectacularly blew up in our faces."

"It did, didn't it?" Nick chuckles softly.

"It was a bit of a shit idea," Louis murmurs.

"It was Harry's idea," Nick replies.

"Oh, well that explains it." They both laugh, falling silent after a few seconds. "I'm sorry, y'know. Your mum seemed proper angry, and--"

"It's my fault," Nick interrupts. "You were just doing what I asked you to, it's not your fault."

"Yeah, but…" Louis shrugs. "Still. I was a dick."

"You were." Nick nods, giving him a wry smile. "But you were only pretending. I'm the real dick, here. A massive one."

"Truly. It's impressive, really." Louis grins and Nick covers his face with one hand, muffling his laugh into it.

"You were, like, _convincing_ , though. You should be an actor, or summat."

"Well…" Louis tilts his head and laughs. "I am? Sort of?"

"Wait, what? Seriously?"

"Yeah. I mean, not like, a famous one. I've just been in plays, musicals, been an extra on telly a couple times, that sort of thing."

"That's amazing."

"Yeah…" Louis doesn't sound convinced. "It's, umm, why I was free for the holidays, actually." He turns to the window, like he can't face Nick and tell his story at the same time. "I was supposed to be in this play that was going to run through Christmas and the New Year, only…"

"Only…?"

"It was shit." Louis laughs. "Like, actual, total shit. We were supposed to run for a month and a half, and we closed after like, three days."

"Oh, shit."

"Yeah." Louis clicks his tongue. "The worst part was, I told my mum all about it, right? She wasn't going to come, she couldn't leave the kids, but like… I'd already said I'd be missing Christmas this year. And…" Louis takes a deep breath. "And then it closed, and I was just… so fucking embarrassed, y'know? Like, here was this thing that I'd gone and bragged about, and then it was just so fucking awful that it closed basically _immediately_. I just… I couldn't face my family after that. So I kept up the lie, telling them it was all going great, and…"

"Oh, Lou." Nick finds himself reaching for Louis' hand before he knows he's doing it. He laces his fingers with Louis' and squeezes tightly, while Louis wipes at his eyes with his other hand.

"It's fine, I'm fine." He sniffs loudly. "I just feel, like, _so_ stupid. Like, if you can't tell your family when you fuck up, then who can you tell?"

"You can tell me," Nick says. "I'm a massive fuck up, me."

"That's true," Louis says, cracking a small smile.

"I'm letting you have that one," Nick replies as he rolls his eyes.

"You walked into it."

"I know."

"I mean, you _did_ invite a total stranger to your mum's house on Christmas."

"I kn--"

" _And_ you asked them to be a dick just to piss off your family."

"Alright, I get it! I'm the biggest fuck up in the world!" Nick lets go of Louis' hand and covers his face with both of his.

"Hey," Louis says as he gently pries Nick's hands away from his face. "You're not, y'know."

"No?" Louis shakes his head.

"You might be the biggest fuck up in this car, though."

Nick snickers. "I can live with that, I think."

"It could be a tie, if that makes you feel better."

"Yeah?" Nick's eyes drop to Louis' mouth, feeling that same urge to kiss him that he felt hours ago. He looks up just in time to catch Louis doing the same, but before he can say a word Louis leans forward and kisses him.

Nick pulls his hands free from Louis' and reaches up to cup Louis' face. Louis curls his fingers into the front of Nick's jacket, pulling him as close as physically possible despite the center console between them.

"Nick," Louis breathes out against his mouth a few minutes later.

"Yeah?" Nick asks, pressing his forehead against Louis' as they both catch their breath.

"We're in your dad's car."

"Yeah," Nick laughs. "We are."

"And we still need to get stuff for your mum."

"Yeah, we do."

"I like kissing you," Louis says, brushing his nose against Nick's. He gives him a tiny kiss and then presses their foreheads together again. "But we should probably…"

"Yeah," Nick says with a groan. "My mum did threaten to disown me if I wasn't back in time for Christmas dinner."

Louis laughs. "Then we'd better go."

"Probably." Nick waits a beat and then kisses Louis again.

"Nick," Louis whines, pushing him away with a laugh. "Later."

"Later?" Nick repeats in a hopeful voice.

"Well," Louis gives him an appraising sort of look. "You do have to make up for missing my birthday." He opens his door and climbs out of the car, leaving Nick with the weight of his words to sink in.

"Fuck," Nick mutters under his breath before scrambling out of the car and following Louis into the petrol station shop.

Louis is already browsing the snacks when Nick comes through the door. The attendant behind the counter doesn't even look up as he enters, but Louis smiles when he and Nick make eye contact. He stays still and lets Nick come up to his side, and Nick resists the urge to pull Louis closer.

"What do we need to get?" Louis asks softly. The shop is very quiet, not even the radio's on in the background. Nick spares another glance to the attendant and then clears his throat.

"Well, we need, like… party things?"

"Party things?"

"And, umm, whatever snacks you like."

"What--" Louis turns his head and looks up at Nick. "Is your mum throwing me a birthday party?"

"Maybe," Nick answers, trying to keep a straight face even though he can feel his cheeks turning red.

"She doesn't-- Did you tell her she doesn't have to?"

"I wasn't about to tell my mum anything, do you know how cross she is with me for this whole mess I've gotten us into?" Nick laughs. "She'd have my head if I tried to tell her not to throw a party she wants to throw."

"Alright, alright." Louis sighs sharply. "But, won't it be weird? I mean, I just spent the last few days terrorizing your family. Don't they hate me?"

"I think my mum's turning them as we speak." Nick takes a chance and slips his arm around Louis' waist. "She's quite fond of you, I think."

"She's a nice lady, your mum." Louis puts his hand over Nick's on his waist. "Reminds me a bit of my mum, actually."

Nick can hear the wistfulness in Louis' voice when he mentions his mum. He pulls him a little closer and presses a kiss to the side of Louis' head. Louis leans into it and gently squeezes Nick's hand.

"So… snacks?" Louis says. "Doubt we'll find much party stuff here."

"Not unless you want a petrol station themed party," Nick says as he taps his fingers against the rather impressively large display of car air fresheners.

"Christmas decorations suit me just fine," Louis says as he starts picking out random snacks from the shelves, filling up his arms with one bag after another.

They leave the shop a few minutes later with two plastic bags full of snacks and matching grins, both of them feeling much, much better than they were when they left the house an hour ago.

*

Nick's mum is waiting to meet them at the door when they come back, only this time Louis is the one who's bundled up in a hug and immediately dragged off towards the dining room. Nick's once again left with the bags and a profound feeling of confusion that only gets worse when his mum comes back and shoos him towards the kitchen.

"Now, let's see, what did you-- oh, Nick."

"What?"

"When I said snacks, I didn't mean--"

"He picked these out!" Nick protests. "These are the snacks he likes!"

Eileen huffs and rolls her eyes as she starts to unpack the bags, sorting them out on the kitchen table. Nick hovers awkwardly behind her, unsure if he should wait for further instructions or go see where Louis has been left with his family.

"Where do you think you're going?" Eileen says as Nick makes the smallest movement towards the door.

"I…" Nick clears his throat. "Nowhere?"

"You're going to help me bring in the food," she says, going over to the oven and opening the door. "And later, you're going to help with the dishes."

"Yes, Mum."

"C'mere." Eileen waves him over, pulling him into a tight hug when Nick's close enough. "I love you."

"Love you too, Mum."

"I'm still upset with you," she adds. "But I love you very much."

Nick winces. "I deserve that."

"You do." Eileen hums. "Now, c'mon, we've got a house full of hungry people."

When Nick follows his mum into the dining room, he's surprised (and slightly worried) to see Louis sitting next to his dad. But they seem to be having a nice conversation and Louis isn't sporting a black eye or bleeding from anywhere, so Nick thinks it can't be all bad. The seat next to Louis was left empty, and Nick sits down after he's finished setting the food out in the center of the table.

"Happy Christmas!" Eileen says, raising her glass at the other end of the table. "And happy birthday, Louis."

Everyone around the table echoes the sentiment, and Nick reaches over to squeeze Louis' hand under the table. Louis holds onto it tightly even after the toast is long over, making it only slightly difficult for Nick to serve himself dinner.

The atmosphere is remarkably different from the day before; Louis is happily chatting away with Nick's family and they're _returning_ the sentiment. Nick wonders what sort of miracle his mum must've worked while they were gone to change everyone's minds. On the other hand, he's getting a bit of a cold shoulder from most of the people around the table, but it doesn't seem so bad with Louis' hand tucked into his.

At the end of the meal, Nick gets up and starts clearing before his mum has a chance to tell him to, and Louis does the same.

"Oh, Louis, you don't--" Eileen starts, but he gently interrupts.

"Please, let me. You've all been so lovely, it's the least I can do."

Nick leaves the room as quickly as he can, partially to avoid the looks from his family, but mostly because there's a lump in his throat that isn't going away easily. He busies himself with cleaning off the first batch of plates, leaving his back to the door so he won't see Louis when he comes in.

Louis doesn't say a word when he comes up to Nick's side, he just deposits the plates on the counter and leaves the kitchen again. He continues the pattern until the table is presumably cleared, and then he dawdles by Nick's side.

"Your mum decorated the family room, did you see?" he asks.

"Did she?" Nick asks. He starts filling the sink with warm, soapy water but doesn't look at Louis, not once.

"Balloons, streamers, the whole bit." Louis laughs a little. "Guess she didn't really need us to go get supplies."

"You won her over," Nick says, his voice getting a bit thick. He tries to swallow, to make the lump go away, but it only makes it worse.

"Nick?" Louis gently touches his hand to the small of Nick's back. "Are you alright?"

"Fine," Nick chokes out. "I'm fine, I just--"

"Oh, Nick," Louis says as he wraps his arms around Nick's waist and hugs him as Nick inexplicably starts crying.

"Fuck, I don't--" Nick groans. "I genuinely don't know what's wrong with me."

"It's okay," Louis whispers.

"No, it's not." Nick pulls himself away from Louis and sighs. "I never should've done this."

"Done… this?"

"Brought you here like this, made you be somebody you're not, I just--" Nick presses the back of his hand to his forehead and groans. "I fucked up."

"It's okay," Louis repeats.

"It's not--"

"It is," Louis says fiercely. "Nick, it's okay, it all worked out, didn't it?"

"I ruined Christmas _and_ your birthday," Nick says miserably.

"You didn't ruin my birthday," Louis tells him. "You didn't know it was my birthday, you didn't ruin it. And you didn't ruin Christmas, either." Louis slides his arms around Nick again and presses against his side. "Instead of sitting at home alone in London, I'm here with a family who really loves each other. And they made me feel welcome even when I was acting like an arse. You didn't ruin anything, Nick, we just got off to a bad start, is all."

Nick puts his arms around Louis and holds him, closing his eyes and breathing slowly as the lump in his throat slowly goes away. Louis presses a kiss to his cheek and Nick starts to smile.

"Where did Harry even find you?" he whispers. Louis chuckles.

"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you," Louis whispers back. "Now, c'mon, dishes will get done twice as fast if you let me help."

"Alright." Nick lets Louis pull himself out of his arms, but before they get to work, Nick swoops down and kisses him.

Louis doesn't wait even a second before he starts kissing back, but they're interrupted by someone clearing their throat behind them.

"How are those dishes coming, son?" Peter asks gruffly, pointedly staring at the ceiling.

"They'll be done soon," Nick manages to say while stifling his laughter. Louis presses his fist to his mouth to keep from laughing, and Peter just nods.

"Good, good. Come to the family room when you're done, yeah?"

Louis buries his face against Nick's chest and starts laughing the moment they're alone again, and Nick's knees nearly give out from embarrassment.

"They're never going to let me come back for another Christmas," he moans.

"They will," Louis assures him, still laughing. "Especially if you bring me again."

"Is that right?" Nick smiles as Louis lifts his head and looks up at him with a similar smile.

"Just saying," Louis replies with a shrug. "Wouldn't mind spending another holiday with the Grimshaws."

Nick clicks his tongue and hums, slipping his arm around Louis' waist. "What're you doing on New Years?"

"Ooh, well, you see…" Louis puts on a serious face. "This weird bloke asked me to piss off his family during New Years, so--"

Nick pinches Louis' side and Louis squirms away, laughing as Nick stares down at him with an unimpressed look on his face.

"I'm never going to live that down, am I?"

"Probably not," Louis answers, grinning. "But it'll make a great story for next year."

**Author's Note:**

> [my tumblr](http://imlouisaf.tumblr.com/post/169142553053/cause-i-could-be-the-one-by-justyrae-nicklouis)


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